Released: March 19, 1990

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore

Producer: Depeche Mode Flood

[Verse 1]
You had something to hide
Should have hidden it, shouldn't you?
Now you're not satisfied
With what you're being put through

[Refrain]
It's just time to pay the price
For not listening to advice
And deciding in your youth
On the policy of truth

[Verse 2]
Things could be so different now
It used to be so civilised
You will always wonder how
It could have been if you'd only lied

[Refrain]
It's too late to change events
It's time to face the consequence
For delivering the proof
In the policy of truth

[Chorus]
Never again is what you swore
The time before
Never again is what you swore
The time before

[Verse 3]
Now you're standing there tongue-tied
You'd better learn your lesson well
Hide what you have to hide
And tell what you have to tell

[Refrain]
You'll see your problems multiplied
If you continually decide
To faithfully pursue
The policy of truth

[Chorus]
Never again is what you swore
The time before
Never again is what you swore
The time before

[Interlude]

[Chorus]
Never again is what you swore
The time before
Never again is what you swore
The time before
Never again is what you swore
The time before
Never again is what you swore
The time before
Never again is what you swore
The time before
Never again is what you swore
The time before

Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode are recognized as one of the most artistically influential bands of the late 20th century. Commercially, they have released 14 studio albums to date, and sold more than 100 million records. Their most recent album, Spirit, hit the streets in March 2017.

The band got their start in Basildon, Essex in 1980, and named themselves after a French fashion magazine. They rose to fame with hits that have become “Just Can’t Get Enough” (1981), “Everything Counts” (1983), and “People Are People” (1984), to name a few. One of their most famous concerts was at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in 1988.

Martin Gore has been the band’s primary songwriter since Vince Clarke left in the early 1980s (and went on to form Yazoo and Erasure). Alan Wilder replaced Clarke on keyboards in 1982, but left in 1995 (reinvesting his creative energy in his band, Recoil, which he had started in 1986). Since then, the band has comprised frontman Dave Gahan, multi-instrumentalist Martin Gore, and keyboardist Andy Fletcher—all of whom are original members.